Parents of Amherst fire victim James 'Jake' Hoffman to receive his degree from UMass

Firefighters at the scene of the fire at Rolling Green Apartments in January.Republican file photo

AMHERST — James “Jake” Hoffman would have been graduating Friday with a degree from the Isenberg School’s Department of Tourism Management at the University of Massachusetts.

Instead, his parents will receive his degree at the Isenberg School of Management Senior Celebration on Saturday morning.

David and Anne Hoffman also will receive the Chancellor's 150th Anniversary Commemorative Medal on Jake's behalf, according to associate dean Linda L. Shea. His picture will be included in the student slide show called "The Many Faces of our Graduates."

More than 30 people were displaced by the fire, including 22 UMass students.
Nearly five months later, fire officials still don’t know what caused the early morning fire that started in the apartment in which Hoffman lived.

In an email, state Fire Services Public Information Officer Jennifer Mieth wrote that with some fires, investigators are able to determine the cause right away but others take a long time. "This fire remains undetermined and under investigation," she wrote.

“It may come to the point that investigators will say they have collected all possible evidence, reviewed the results of all tests and analysis, completed all interviews, pursued all leads and are unable to come to final cause determination. But the investigative team is not there yet,” Mieth wrote.

James E. Hoffman

The state, meanwhile, has not revealed how Hoffman died. A spokeswoman with the state’s medical office in Holyoke said the cause was still pending and that the autopsy was conducted by Chief Medical Examiner Henry M. Nields in Boston. He could not be reached for comment. In March Amherst Fire Chief W. Tim Nelson said the cause was smoke inhalation.

Hoffman’s UMass friends, meanwhile, are in the process of arranging a golf tournament that will likely be held in the fall to raise money for a scholarship in the 21- year-old’s name. Hoffman was on a club management path with Isenberg and involved in myriad activities on campus.

He was a member of MESIBA Team, which focuses on cross-cultural events, and the Club Managers Association of America, and was the vice president of the Jewish Student Union.

“Clearly, Jake was a very special person and a highly involved, and very well-liked student,” his adviser Rod Warnick wrote in an email. “Although the start of the semester was very difficult for many of us with the passing of Jake; the memory of him will last and we hope to continue to help the healing process with the granting of his degree and the start of a scholarship fund in his memory.”